A herd of wild elephants blocked a mountain road in Thailand.

The jumbos followed the concrete trail with their young holding traffic at Khao Yai National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima province on September 1.

As they walked across the path, the animals stopped from time to time to feed on the plants that were on the side of the road.

Motorists were stuck in traffic while waiting for the elephants to finish foraging and return to the forest.

National park official Adisak Phusitwongsanuyut said ‘We have limited the number of vehicles passing through the routes inside the park at a time to prevent these from happening.

‘There are checkpoints across the park to make sure that no more than 50 cars and 30 motorcycles could enter the park at a time.’

Elephants are the national animal of Thailand. An estimated 2,000 elephants are living in the wild and a similar number in captivity.

In the wild, they roam through the deep jungle and in the country’s protected national parks but often encounter humans on roads and in villages. However, they are protected by laws and killing them carries a maximum prison term of up to three years and a fine of 1,000 baht (25GBP).